When employees are paid a substandard wage, they make mistakes and deliver a substandard product.

Contrary to the column, the contract recently negotiated between the Aylmer police services board and the Aylmer Police Association only maintained its position of being 54th of 57 published first-class officer salaries in Ontario — lower than London, OPP and St. Thomas.

Additionally, the figure used for 2016 is about $2,600 too high, and in any event, to compare 2013 wages in one municipality to 2016 wages in another is obtuse. Ultimately, Aylmer officers earn less than 99.9% of the police officers in the province.

We have a vested interest in our community. The costs of policing and wages in Aylmer is fair and in keeping with our community efforts to make our town safe, attractive and viable. That many people chose to live in Aylmer and commute to London justifies those efforts.

The Town of Aylmer doesn’t want, or deserve, the type of policing that substandard wages attract.